Our Greatest Enemy
By Pastor Chad Broome
Who is your greatest enemy to your spiritual growth in becoming more like Christ?
Matthew 16:24-25 (NIV) – Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it…”
Cycle Instead of Sequence
A few things about Self:
1) Self will always be with us. We never graduate or “arrive” at the place where we no longer have to deal with self.
2) We can’t cast out self.
3) Self has a way of convincing us that, “This time is the exception”,
4) Self has a voice. The voice of self says, “Protect, promote, and please yourself.”
John 14:16 (CSB) – “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever.”
Galatians 5:16-17 (NKJV) – “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.”
Strategies that have helped me:
1) Learn to identify the voice of self. We can’t deny it if we don’t recognize it.
2) Be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to get angry.
● James 1:19 (NLT) – “Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.”
James 3:5-6 (NLT) – “In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. 6 And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.
3) Find a friend & ask them to speak truth to you.
Proverbs 27:6 (NLT) – “Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy.”
4) Look for opportunities to go low.
Philippians 2:3-11 (NLT) – “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
